©1998-2008
The DeKalb Choral Guild, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

A Way With Words

Bryan F. Black, Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

Sunday, May 22, 2005
First United Methodist Church of Marietta
Marietta, Georgia

Laudate Jehovam (1758) by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Psalm 117 – "O Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations"
Christine Thomas and Brooke Simon, violinists; Arie Motschman, organ

Songs of Innocence (1956) by Earl George (1924-1994)
Poems (1789) by William Blake (1757-1827)

1. Introduction (Piping Down the Valleys Wild)
2. The Shepherd
3. Infant Joy
4. The Lamb
5. Laughing Song

Rejoice In The Lamb (1943) by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Poetry from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart (1722-1771)
Arie Motschman, organ
Peggy Emery, soprano; Mary Gowing, alto; Rob Armstrong, tenor; John Scott, bass

— Interval —

See the Chariot at Hand by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Poem by Ben Jonson (1572-1637) from the opera Sir John in Love
Robert Amar, Guest Conductor

Four Pastorales (1964) by Cecil Effinger (1914-1990)
Poems by Thomas Hornsby Ferril (d. 1988), from, New and Selected Poems (1952)
Paul Scherr, flute

1. No Mark
2. Noon
3. Basket
4. Wood

Vier Quartette [Four Quartets] (1884) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

1. O schöne Nacht, poem by Georg Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875)
2. Spätherbst, poem by Hermann Allmers (1821-1902)
3. Abendlied, poem by Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863)
4. Warum, poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1794-1832)

John the Revelator (2001) arranged by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory
Traditional Gospel Blues

Program Notes

by Michaelene Gorney

The 150 poems of the Book of Psalms, part of the Old Testament, have repeatedly been used as texts for musical composition, first as chant melodies within the context of the early Christian church, then as the basis for polyphonic settings beginning in the 15th century. Inscriptions indicate that they were to be sung according to specific melodies and perhaps with instrumentals - would that we could hear them in their original form!

The parents of Baroque composer Georg Philip Telemann (1681-1767) intended him to be a lawyer; and, toward that end, provided him a very thorough education, including music. By age ten, Telemann played several instruments; by age 11 he was composing opera. As a law student at Leipzig University, he organized a collegium musicum and was appointed director of the Leipzig Opera. Soon after, he became organist at the Neue Kirche, was appointed Kapellmeister to the court of Count Erdmann II, and then Konzertmeister and Kapellmeister in Eisenach, where he probably met J. S. Bach (he was godfather to C. P. E. Bach). Subsequent positions included director of music in Frankfurt, Kapellmeister at the Barffüsserkirche and at Gotha, Kantor of the Johanneum in Hamburg, director of Hamburg's churches, and music director of the Hamburg Opera. Telemann wrote profusely for the students and ensembles under his direction - cantatas, passions, operas, chamber music, instrumental music, and oratorios. Until his death, both he and his music were well-known, celebrated, and respected throughout Europe.¹

"Laudate, Jehovam" ("Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations"), Psalm 117, was set by Telemann in 1758, and therefore represents the mature Baroque as well as a transition to the Classical period. The keyboard part was written in figured bass, a Baroque practice in which numbers above or below a bass line indicated chords to be played by a continuo (a keyboard or plucked string instrument), with reinforcement of bass notes often provided by a sustaining string or wind instrument. The realization of Telemann's figured bass heard in today's concert is by Fritz Oberdoerffer (1895-1979), classical music editor, faculty member and Professor Emeritus of music at the University of Texas at Austin, who was born in Hamburg and studied at Leipzig Conservatory and the University of Berlin.² "…et veritas Domini in aeternum. Alleluia."

Earl George (1924-1994), pianist and composer, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and studied at the Eastman School of Music and at the Berkshire School of Music with Boluslav Martinů. From 1959, he taught at Syracuse University, where he founded the Syracuse University Singers³. There he also he wrote music criticism for the Syracuse Herald-Journal⁴, and conducted and performed with the Syracuse Symphony. George's music—two operas, orchestral works, works for strings and piano, choral works, and song cycles—won him many commissions and awards⁵, and has been performed by major orchestras, including the Minneapolis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.⁶

The Songs of Innocence is a set of poems by London-born William Blake (1757-1827), non-conformist poet, painter and engraver who spoke of having visions from the age of four. At face value, the Songs of Innocence (1789) are just that: children's poems exhibiting a youthful naiveté and joie de vivre that are mockingly dispelled by the harsh darkness of the later Songs of Experience (1794). Blake's literary and visual works were manifestations of his belief that inner visions took precedence over observable reality, a belief that did not endear him to neoclassical conformists of 18th century England. Thus, Blake—an enormously talented and committed individual who taught himself Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Italian in order to read the classics; who openly opposed the social tyrannies of both church and state; who invented a machine for engraving both text and illustrations; and who would not sacrifice his visions to popularity—made only a meager living from his crafts and died in poverty, even as he envisioned "a new and higher kind of innocence, the human spirit triumphant over reason,"⁷ the dark and worldly Songs of Experience reversed and dispelled by the Songs of Innocence. "When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy…"

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) began writing music at the age of five, deciding early to make a living as a composer. At 16, he told the Royal College of Music, "I know it can be done."8 Perhaps prophetically, he was born on November 22nd, the feast day of Saint Cecilia, considered the Patron Saint of Music. Having won several prizes at the RCM, Britten went on to compose for BBC Radio, the BBC Singers, BBC Radio, films, and theater groups, becoming internationally known despite spending only a brief time outside of England. His roots are reflected in his settings of English poetry, musical allusions to plainsong and church bells, and use of choirboys' voices. During the 1940s, a fruitful decade for vocal music, Britten wrote the Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Ceremony of Carols, Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Serenade (for tenor, horn, and strings), Rejoice in the Lamb, the Festival Te Deum, and four operas: Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring, and The Little Sweep.⁹

Rejoice in the Lamb (1943) was written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the consecration of St. Matthew's Church in Northampton, England.¹⁰ For soloists, choir, and organ, it takes its text from the writings of 18th-century poet Christopher Smart (1722-1771), a deeply religious man who wrote "Jubilate Agno" during his confinement in a madhouse from 1756 to 1763.¹¹ Its main theme is the worship of God by all creatures and things. Among choral sections praising God, encouraging others to praise, and offering stately "Hallelujahs" are solo sections lauding the abilities of cat (an homage to Smart's cat, Joeffry), mouse, flowers and instruments to render praise through the sheer nature of their beings.

Smart, educated at Cambridge and known for Latin verse and translation of the works of Horace, earned a living editing, copying, and composing songs for popular theater. Also known for reckless drinking and spending, he was arrested for debt in 1747. In the 1750s, religious obsession compelled him to continuous prayer and to public outbursts which led to his confinement, first in St. Luke's Hospital and then in Mr. Potter's Madhouse in Bethnal Green. During these years he wrote his most significant works, "A Song to David" and "Jubilate Agno." Smart's last years were marked by increasing debt and need and yet another arrest the year before he died.

Though confusing to his contemporaries with its surrealistic imagery, irrational juxtapositions of text, and sheer joy in the rhythm of words, Smart's poetry is now recognized for its genius and its influence, on style or affirmation of spirituality, on poets such as John Browning, William Butler Yeats, William Blake, Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, and the beat poets of the 1950s and 1960s.¹² Britten honors the poet's intent with solemn, reverential "Hallelujahs," whimsical yet contemplative musings, and ecstatic rhythms and changing meters that preserve the joy of words for words' sake. "grace…place beat… heat sound…bound soar…more…."

Poetry of Ben Jonson (1572-1637) serves as inspiration for "See the Chariot at Hand," the Wedding Chorus from a cantata by Ralph Vaughan Williams' (1872-1958) called In Windsor Forest. Music for the cantata was adapted from his opera Sir John in Love, in which he sets the lyrics of several poets.¹³ Vaughan Williams, like Britten, studied at the Royal College of Music. Though familiar with 20th century contemporary European music, having studied with Maurice Ravel and Max Bruch, his own music, too, remained strongly nationalistic, influenced by native folk song and English composers such as Gustav Holst. While on the faculty of the RCM, he worked with the Bach Choir as part of the Leith Hill Music Festival and taught in conjunction with the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

Jonson, a dramatist and poet, studied at Westminster, worked with his minister father, served in the army, then in 1594 began work as an actor and playwright. His first notable play, Every Man in His Humor, featured none other than William Shakespeare in one of its productions. Under the patronage of James I, Jonson wrote many famous plays, Volpone and The Alchemist among them, receiving in 1616 the title of Poet Laureate. Within "The Tribe of Ben," a circle of friends and admirers, were nobles and writers, and among Jonson's poems are tributes to such men as Shakespeare, John Donne, and Francis Bacon.¹⁴

"See the Chariot at Hand" a tribute to Venus, is the first line of Jonson's poem "The Triumph," the fourth in A Celebration of Charis in Ten Lyric Pieces.¹⁵ The setting is described in a Masque with Nuptial Songs on the occasion of the marriage of the Lord Vicount Haddington in 1608: "Beyond the Cliff was seen nothing but Clouds, thick, and obscure; till on the sudden, with a solemn Musick, a bright Sky breaking forth; there were discovered, first two Doves, then two Swans [both sacred to Venus] with silver geers, drawing forth a triumphant Chariot; in which Venus sate, crowned with her Star, and beneath her the three Graces, or Charites, Aglaia, Thalia, Euphrosyne, all attired according to their antique figures."¹⁶ Vaughan Williams presents Jonson's poem as a gentle waltz of lilting triplets, with slower-moving duplets providing rhythmic contrast and dramatic emphasis. "And well the car Love guideth."

Poetry of Thomas Hornsby Ferrill (d. 1988), from A Shifting Web: New and Selected Poems, is featured in the evocative Four Pastorales by Cecil Effinger (1914-1990).¹⁷ Here are not the typical pastorales, speaking to the greenness of spring, the rushing of brooks, and the gaiety of youthful love, but pastorales of the American West, where, as Hornsby said, "History is written in water,"¹⁸ an acknowledgment of the significance and scarcity of this natural commodity to Hornsby's native Colorado, where he lived all his life in the city of Denver. An award-winning poet, essayist, columnist, and co-editor with his wife of The Rocky Mountain Herald (1939–1972), Hornsby became Colorado Poet Laureate in 1979. Fulcrum Publishing calls him "a writer of great importance, whose words tell of the timelessness of the Western landscape and the transience of all living things." Carl Sandburg said he was "terrifically and beautifully American ... a poet, wit, historian, man of books and human affairs, and so definitely one of the Great Companions."¹⁹

Except for a brief visit at the American Conservatory at Fountainbleau, France, to study with Nadia Boulanger, Cecil Effinger, too, lived his entire life in Colorado. With an influx of cultured health-seekers in his hometown of Colorado Springs, known for its natural springs and dry climate, Effinger, originally a violinist and oboist, heard and met notable performers and composers such as Stravinsky and Roy and Johanna Harris - this in an area thought by some on the East Coast to be less than civilized. But here Effinger thrived, instructing at The Colorado College, playing with the Denver Symphony, receiving the Stoval composition and Naumberg Recording prizes, directing the 506th Army Band, becoming professor and composer-in-residence at the College of Music at the University of Colorado, constantly composing orchestral, chamber, and choral works, quartets, operas, oratorios, and cantatas. He also invented a practical musical typewriter and an open-ended typewriter for engineering drawings, and, as president of Music Print Corporation, oversaw the development and production of his own inventions.²⁰

Deeply imbued with a sense of place in the American West and his need to serve it — "I like the sweep, the breadth and depth of our area," he said— Effinger gave many of his works titles evocative of the West, such as "Fanfare on a Chow Call," "Tone Poem on a Square Dance," and "The Prairie Melts."²¹ In Four Pastorales, a single oboe conveys a sense of contemplative isolation, while voices remain true to Hornsby's poetry with homophonic "recitations" on the simple and surprising wonders of scrub, soapweed, skulls, dark woods, lone flowers, and stately beasts. Of special note is the static second movement, "Noon," reflecting the languor, withering and bleaching induced by the mid-day sun. "The wilt of sage at noon is the longest distance any nostril knows."

Without the aid of a court position or a public appointment, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) made a place for himself in the musical life of Hamburg, Germany, as a pianist, as a diligent, inspired, composer, and as founder and conductor of a women's choir. Though not overwhelmingly accepted by the public of his time, despite Robert Schumann's welcoming him as "a new musical force", neither was he a stranger to recognition, particularly after his Requiem, Liebeslieder Walzer, and Rhapsody appeared in close succession during his thirties.²² Acclaimed for modesty as well as talent, Brahms, now considered the epitome of Romanticism, once declined an honorary degree from Cambridge, and throughout his life favored informal dress, simple restaurants, and, says Nicolas Slonimsky, "a great deal of beer."²³

The Vier Quartette für vier Singstimmen und Klavier, Op. 92, were first published in 1884. ²⁴ "O schöne Nacht" ("O Lovely Night") and "Spätherbst" ("Late Autumn") offer contrasting moods and sentiments, but are musically similar in that they are both written in triple meter, both marked "andante," and both accompanied by triplet figures in the piano. No. 2 also ends in E major, the key of No. 1. "Abenlied" ("Evening Song") and "Warum" ("Why?") are both in quadruple meter, the last serving as a commentary on the ability of song to invoke the beauties of nature, to surround and to soothe. Ulrich Malert calls this work "musically demanding chamber music. A choral interpretation can hardly do justice to the aesthetic qualities of the work, unless the performers are truly accomplished singers"(!)²⁵

Poet and philosopher Georg Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875), the author of "O schöne Nacht," was first a pietist, then a pantheist and orthodox Protestant, who strove to substitute for Christianity a religion "of love and peace." He later embraced the Catholic faith and became its ardent defender.²⁶ Daumer's poetry was much-favored by Brahms; texts from his Polydora were used by Brahms in the Liebeslieder Walzer, Op.52, and Daumer's translations of love poems from several countries were set to music in the Neue Liebesliederwalzer, Op. 65. "Spätherbst" was written by poet and author Hermann Allmers (1821-1902), like-long friend of naturalist and painter Ernst Haeckel, an ardent supporter of Darwinism. "Abenlied" is from the pen of dramatist Christian Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863), who in his tragedies drew upon Hegel's concepts of history²⁷ to dramatize conflicts between old and new value systems.²⁸ "Warum" was written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), friend to Friedrich Schiller, writer, playwright, musician, politician, humanist, scientist (he inspired Darwin with his discovery of the premaxilla jaw bones) and philosopher, who intended his own life to be an example of the full range of human potential.²⁹ It is notable that all four poems selected by Brahms invoke images inspired by the sky: "the moon…in the firmament shining…surrounded by the delightful company of little stars, "the shy is weeping," "the twinkling stars, wandering above," "Luna's sweet embrace." Our sensibilities reach upward to meet the heavens, to be comforted by them, to gather strength from them. Why, indeed?

"Apocalypse," from the verb apokalypto, "to reveal," is the name given to the last book of the Bible, also called the Book of Revelation, written by the same John credited with writing the fourth Gospel. The Book is a series of seven epistles written to seven churches in which John describes his visions while on the island of Patmos. In the first, God holds a scroll having seven seals, which can be broken only by the lamb whose blood had been spilled. As the seals are broken, more visions ensue: four horses representing conquest, slaughter, dearth and death; slain martyrs; the chosen who are predestined to glory; angels issuing forth with trumpets bringing forth destruction of earth and skies followed by final judgment; a divine drama - "the lamb, the woman, and her seed; and opposed to them, the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the land"; seven vials holding seven plagues; the great harlot; the victory of Christ over beast and dragon; and, finally, a new Jerusalem, where God dwells in the midst of his saints who enjoy complete happiness.³⁰

"John the Revelator" as traditional gospel blues was first recorded in 1930 by Blind Willie Johnson, Texas street-corner evangelist and self-taught slide guitarist, with his wife Angeline singing the responses.³¹ According to arrangers Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory, Johnson practiced a charismatic religion "that used music to lift worshipers into an ecstatic, trance-like state of mind. These periods of holy delirium allowed followers to gain brief glimpses into the world described by John…and offered respite and hope to an African-American population trapped in webs of physical and economic hardship." Good music, good words – a powerful combination! "What's the good news? The crippled can walk, the dumb are singin' the b-lues."

Notes

¹ The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, Don Michael Randel, ed., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massaaachusetts, and London, England, 1996.
² The University of Texas at Austin, "In Memoriam Fritz Oberdoerffer" by John R. Durbin, http://www.utexas.edu/faculty/council/2000-2001/memorials/AMR/Oberdoerffer/oberdoerffer.html
³ Syracuse University News, April 17. 2001, http://sunews.syr.edu/fullstory.asp?id=417011
⁴ Innova Recordings, Society for New Music, American Masters for the 21st Century, 30 years of commissions by the Syracuse Society for New Music, "Earl George (1924-1994)," http://innova.mu/notes/616.htm
⁵ The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, ed. Don Michael Randel, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, 1996.
⁶ Innova Recordings, Society for New Music, American Masters for the 21st Century, 30 years of commissions by the Syracuse Society for New Music, "Earl George (1924-1994)," http://innova.mu/notes/616.htm
⁷ The Academy of American Poets, "William Blake," 1997—2005, http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C07040E
⁸ Classics Today, "Benjamin Britten -- Variations on a Theme of Innocence Lost" by David Vernier, http://www.classicstoday.com/features/f1_0701.asp
⁹ OpeaGlass, Opera Composer, "(Edward) Benjamin Britten," http://opera.stanford.edu/Britten/bio.html
¹⁰ Rejoice in the Lamb, Op. 30, by Benjamin Britten, text by Christopher Smart, Boosey & Hawkes, U. S.A., 1943.
¹¹ University of Toronto Library Resources, Representative Poetry Online, Christopher Smart (1722-1771), "Jubilate agno," with notes by Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto, 2003, Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries, http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1945.html
¹² The Academy of American Poets, "Christopher Smart," http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=288
¹³ "See the Chariot at Hand" by R Vaughan Williams, text by Ben Jonson, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, and Oxford, England, 1931
¹⁴ The Academy of American Poets, "Ben Jonson, http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C050508.
¹⁵ The Songs and Poems of Ben Jonson., Philip Allan & Co., London, 1924
¹⁶ The Holloway Pages, Ben Jonson Page, Masques, http://www.hollowaypages.com/jonson1692nuptial.htm, © 2003 by Clark J. Holloway.
¹⁷ Four Pastorales by Cecil Effinger, text from A Shifting Web: New and Selected Poems by Thomas Hornsby Ferrill, Harper & Row, New York; New York, 1964
¹⁸ Western Headwaters Project, "Headwaters Hill: a significant point is named," http://www.western.edu/headwaters/headwatershill.html
¹⁹ The West: Narratives, Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, Colorado, "a review of Thomas Hornsby Ferrill and the American West (17.95), Robert C. Baron, Stephen J. Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel, eds., http://www.fulcrum-books.com/html/the_west.html
²⁰ Metropolitan State College of Denver, Music at Metro State, "Cecil Effinger (1914-1990): a Colorado Composer" by Dr. Larry Worster, http://clem.mscd.edu/~worster/mainsite/effinger.html
²¹ ibid.
²² Liebeslider Walzer by Johannes Brahms, Lawson-Gould Music Publishers, Inc., 1961, Introduction by Thomas F. Pyle
²³ The Concise Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music, Nicolas Slonimsky, ed., Schirmer Book, New York, New York, 1978.
²⁴ Vier Quartette für vier Singstimmen und Klavier, Op. 92, by Johannes Brahms, Breitkopf & Härtel, Weisbaden, Leipzig, and Paris, 1991
²⁵ ibid.
²⁶ The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Georg Friedrich Daumer," http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04639a.htm
²⁷ Simplistically, that reason, a product of the mind, rules the world, therefore, history is a rational process and there must be a mind at work in the universe to establish reality and give it structure. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, "Idealism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism
²⁸ The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press, "Christian Friedrich Hebbel," http://www.answers.com/topic/hebbel-christian-friedrich
²⁹ Bartleby-Com, Great Books Online, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001, "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe," http://www.bartleby.com/65/go/Goethe-J.html
³⁰ The Catholic Encyclopedia, "Apocalypse," http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01594b.htm
³¹ McGiunn's Folkden, "John the Revelator" by Roger McGiunn, November 1, 1998, http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden/php/search/individ.php?mid=32